When hearing impaired children are using wireless systems for educations or other purposes, it can be very difficult for the caretaker to know whether the wireless system is actually working properly. Especially small children cannot report whether their receiver system is functional, thus a visual indication that the individual receiver is functional and is receiving properly can greatly improve ease of use for the caretaker. For this reason the OTICON FM receiver has an LED which will be lit when the system is functional and receiving the wireless signals.
However, having an LED on whenever the system is functional will increase power consumption and can cause technical problems like decreased range. A solution to this problem is to flash the LED every few seconds when the system is functional. This will decrease the added power consumption of a LED and could lessen any technical difficulties that arise from the active LED. This can be done without compromising the usefulness of the visual feedback facilitated by the LED at the receivers.
This solution introduces the following problem: A classroom full of students with wireless receivers, all flashing asynchronously, will be quite disturbing visually, and could cause loss of concentration for both the children and the caretaker. Further, it can be quite difficult to spot a not-flashing device in the midst of all the flashing devices going on and off at random, and possibly a non-functional apparatus may pass un-noticed for quite a while because of this.